Dentist issues

EmmaZumba

My mum has just broken her filling again. It was redone just after Xmas so has only lasted a month before breaking again. The dentist at the time said "if it breaks again we'll have to do the more expensive filling" so now we are back at square 1 but with the original debt of the first filling and having to pay out much more to have it done again. If a consumer product breaks that was bought from a shop you get a free replacement. You shouldn't have to keep paying out to correct the original problem - do you? Where do we stand here?

EmmaZumba

News just in: My mum is saying that when the filling came out (whilst eating toast) she bit down on it and cracked another filling with it. It just gets worse. The dentist's original shoddy work is causing chaos. Surely there we don't have to pay out for all of this?

Toothsmith

If your Mum is NHS, then if the 'more expensive filling' means a crown or a gold inlay then she will just pay the difference between the band 2 fee of £47 ish (which she's already paid) and the band 3 fee of £204 ish.

If there is an extra filling now, then this will also be included within this fee anyway. It's all counted as the same course of treatment as it's within 8 weeks of the last treatment.

Fillings sometimes have a 12 month guarentee on the NHS - providing the dentist didn't recommend the dearer thing in the first place, but your Mum preferred to try the cheaper option.

That's assuming she's an NHS patient in England or Wales. Rules are different in Scotland and N.I.

If she's private, then I'm sure the dentist will negotiate something. He should do anyway.